At the high school fundraiser on 2/14, we bumped into one of my old friends, who I haven't kept in touch with. I was delighted to see her. Donna was one of the shortest girls in our class, and more importantly one of the sweetest. She asked Coach to turnabout our senior year 1989, when he was a junior. I attended turnabout with my good friend, who I still keep in touch with, Andy. I remember seeing super tall Coach joke around with his very short date, Donna, when a slow dance came on. He pretended he was gonna get on his knees to dance with her. Coach and Donna -
turnabout recreation
Anyway, we chatted about that turnabout and Donna remembered that Coach had gotten in BIG trouble the weekend before the dance. He was allowed to attend the dance - but could make no dinner plans beforehand, and had to come home right afterwards.
Me: Oh, really? Do tell, Donna.
The trouble he'd landed in was major and once she shared it, I was like 'Ah, I remember that.' I'd been unsure of the timeline, so her info put a timestamp on the 'incident'.
A few weeks before turnabout, Coach's folks told their kids they'd be moving to upper state New York that summer. Coach was distraught. He'd have to start a new school as a senior, unable to graduate with his class. A junior hosted a party that night as her folks were out of town. Coach went to the party and dealt with this moving out of state news by becoming overserved. Um, understatement.
Two well-meaning friends decided they'd call his folks and pose as a mom saying: "Coach has decided to sleep over here tonight." Well, in a true sitcom-esque moment, neither friend knew that the other was doing the same thing. So, Coach's folks got two separate calls. And believe me, I'm sure their radar was up once they got the first call . . . from someone other than their son. Hmm. His dad figured out whose parents were out of town.
The story from the other attendees: Cops showed up at the house. Everyone kept quiet and hidden while the kid who lived there opened the door and spoke with the authorities. Then someone announced, "MR. SHENANIGAN'S HERE!" (aka my FIL, a force not to be reckoned with). And kids started climbing out windows and shoving each other in order to get out of dodge. The kids could NOT escape fast enough. Chaos ensued.
Coach remembers waking up in his bed the next morning wearing a hospital band on his wrist and feeling . . . un really horrible. Turns out his dad took him to the ER where he'd gotten his stomach pumped.
I can't believe he was allowed to even go to the dance the next weekend.
Flip-side: I went to a party the end of my junior year (this was not my scene - it was something a friend who lived in a nearby city invited me to and there weren't many people from my school there). I didn't drink, and I told my mom I was going to a party. Came home on time, not having had a sip of alcohol.
I was grounded for six weeks, because she grilled me with things like: Were the parents at the party?
My answer was honest: Um, I didn't see them.
And dishonest/creative: We were in the basement - I think they were upstairs. (there was no chance the parents were home).
We wore uniform blazers to school, glitzing up the blazers with various buttons. I took one of those customizable name tags from student council elections (the ones with a clear plastic sleeve and an inserted paper) and wrote on it: EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY . . . FOR TOMORROW YOU TOO MAY BE GROUNDED. From then on, I followed the 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' approach. In other words, my mom drove me to drink. Um, I might have had one Bartels and James coolers - not exactly drinking till I needed my stomach pumped.
Not one of my siblings was ever grounded for even a weekend, let alone six weeks. I didn't really go out much. I was busy babysitting and working at Burger King. I survived the six week sentence by babysitting for my friend, who now lives in Dallas. Her husband played for the Bears. They were awesome, and helped me maintain my sanity while living with strict parents. She had me invite friends over when I was babysitting while grounded. She'd pick up a few Blockbuster videos and order us pizza. If it weren't for her, I would've lost my everlasting mind.
*****
Ever receive an unfair grounding? Did you attend the kind of parties in high school that were thrown when parents weren't home? Were you like me - did you babysit a ton in high school, or do some other job?